The Pregnancy Question

By Edwin C. Darden

When an employee announces “I am pregnant,” she is instantly swaddled in a cocoon of legal protections surrounding her cherished condition.

School boards, as employers, must accept that pregnancy shifts the axis of power decidedly toward the individual, and that means walking a hair-thin line between maintaining productivity while extending flexibility and sensitivity.

If the employer-employee relationship goes sour, however -- either during pregnancy or after childbirth -- a school district might find itself cradling a bundle of legal troubles -- the kind that make board members and superintendents want to cry like a baby.